We ARE Off The Grid!!!

Sudden lifestyle changes can usually throw people for a loop...like having the power company come and disconnect our service. We have been facing serious financial problems for a bit through no fault of our own. I was thrust into supporting a fully grown family member who has means and, just like everyone else in Maine pretty much, opportunity, to support their household on their own....well, long story short-moved to Maine at a cold time of year, refused to get propane service hooked up, and the trailer they are living in was "piggyback powered" years ago from a double-breaker in my circuit box...my power bill at most runs at $120 a month for a family of five because most of what we own appliance-wise is propane operated...all of the stuff in this trailer across the driveway is electric...my power bill has been skyrocketing since May and we now owe nearly $2000 on it. I have been celebrating our new-found freedom of being off grid. We have a generator with instructions for hardwiring it safely, as well as a mega-inverter to use with 12v (volt) batteries. We have two big marine batteries and this inverter can run my drip coffeemaker (I can't live without my coffee!), my computer, and stereo all at once. We are getting rid of our big, giant, "vampire" fridge and getting a smaller one.
Now, it might sound like I am complaining but I am NOT!! I am REJOICING!!! The Lord put a tremendous emissary in place for me to do something that I could not on my own...to cut this relative off...and basically they will now have to sink, or swim, on their own. They will really need to get down to the brass tacks of prioritizing in their life. Will they scrape up money for their "habits" or will they scrape up money to put gas in the generator my uncle is willing to loan them and have lights and power to cook with? Will they sell their "priceless" electronics to get propane service installed so they can cook and have heat? Or not? I am praying that the Lord will touch their hearts to straighten out their lives because CMP will not be turning my power back on for any amount of money. It is possible to live without electricity. We have had plans to go off the grid for a while but this just hastened the change. We went out and bought our generator, bought our battery bank, our invertor, it is a start and we are getting there. We have money for the first payment on our new land. We are going to sign papers and send them back today. It feels tremendous to finally move forward with our lives!